


Ironicicle

by Ilovemcu



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 1 mild mention of torture, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Protective Avengers, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Feels, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Stony if you want, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 05:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilovemcu/pseuds/Ilovemcu
Summary: Tony is attempting to escape his kidnappers and is managing just fine.But it's nice to know his team is also coming to save him.Especially with what he is going to have to do to escape.***He finds himself back on the ground. Flat on his ass. Apparently he’d made some sort of yelp or sound when falling because he hears exclamations of worry bursting through the comm.Steve’s voice gets louder. “Tony? Report. Are you alright?”Tony can’t help but giggle. He’d managed to get out of a cave in Afghanistan, having built a metal suit – and yet here he was. Beaten by a ladder. Stupid, stupid concussion.***
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! This is my first fanfic ever. 
> 
> Just a little bit of whump and fun. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> **WARNING: 1 mild mention of torture.   
> Mention of panic attacks.  
> Mention of flashbacks

Tony rolls around the corner and ducks, staying as still as possible as another guard passes him, patrolling. He doesn’t have long before someone realises he’s no longer in his cell.

Tony runs down the corridor and takes two sharp lefts. He knows this area of the bunker instinctively now – he’s been captured for a week. So it doesn’t matter if things sometimes seem to tilt or warp. His concussion can suck it.

“C’mon, c’mon c’mon” he mutters. Then his eyes find the room he had been looking for. He tries the door, and it gives. He gives a small squeal of delight.

No one thought to lock this room, because it holds nothing of importance. But for Tony, it’s enough. He tries to keep in mind how much time he has. In the next ten minutes they were going to come across his empty cell, and from there it would be chaos.

As Tony makes an earpiece, he wonders where the hell he is. It’s one of the things he’s most frustrated by. He had woken up in his cell, having been knocked out, so he had no idea how he had gotten here.

This entire week he’d tried to figure out where the bunker was located, but he still has no clue. He just has to hope that the signal he had managed to send two days ago was picked up by JARVIS and had been traced back to where he was located.

Tony taps into the radio waves and waits, listening to the crackle of the static.

“Hello? Does anyone copy?”

Again, just static.

“Helloooo. Running out of time here. Someone gimme something. This should work.”

Suddenly, he hears a distorted voice. The voice gradually becomes clearer, until Tony can definitely recognise it.

“Stark? Is that you? Tony?”

“Heya Capsicle. It’s been a while. What are you up to?”

“What am I – ? Look, we’re in a Quinjet. JARVIS managed to pinpoint your location. ETA 20 minutes.”

“Ah, I was hoping you would say that. Well, I was hoping you’d get here sooner but, hey! Maybe you’re learning the whole ‘fashionably late’ shindig I was going on about, you’re learning from the master and all that – ” he cuts off his rambling with a hiss which turns into a groan.

“Tony? You alright?”

“Yeah. Yep. Perfect.” Tony bites his tongue. As he’d been rambling, he’d momentarily forgotten his broken wrist, and had put his weight on it when getting up. Stupid concussion.

“Tony can you tell me what’s going on? We’re not getting there any faster, but not for lack of trying. Clint is pushing this thing further than it’s supposed limit.”

“Damn right I am,” Clint chips in.

Tony snorts. He suddenly realises that weirdly enough, he had _missed_ his team. Not that he would ever admit it.

“I escaped my cell and haven’t been detected yet. But if my calculations are correct, and they always are, they’re going to notice in the next two minutes.”

Tony looks around the corner and waits. He knows a guard should be passing through here any second…

“Well, what’s your plan to not be captured again in these next 20 minutes?” Natasha asks drily.

There he is. Tony leaps onto the guard’s back and holds him in a chokehold. He waits for him to pass out, and then grabs two guns which are in his holster.

“Tony? What just happened? You good?” That was Bruce. He sounded a little worried.

“My plan, Romanoff, _is_ to not get captured again in the next 20 minutes. For now it’s not going all too bad. I have created a comm which is connected to all of you, and I have just acquired two guns.” Tony instils some fake confidence into his tone.

It’s better if they stay focussed and believe that he’s in control of the situation. Not that he’s stumbling back, clutching the wall in an attempt to regain his balance. Damn his concussion.

This time it’s Bruce who snorts. “ _Acquired_ two guns?”

“Oh yeah, the guard was really willing to lend me them. You know, once he was unconscious.”

Thor barks out a laugh.

“Ok enough with the chatter,” Steve cuts in.

“No can do. Unfortunately, the resources I used to make this comm were very limited and, might I add, _old_. So this comm cannot turn off and on when I press it. You guys are going to have a running commentary. Which is less than ideal, I know, but – ”

“Tony, you made a comm. That’s already helped drastically. We can all coordinate now,” Steve says.

Tony’s pretty sure Steve is faking his calm as much as he himself is faking his confidence. Then again, maybe not, being Captain America and all.

He sneaks past another corridor, well, _sneak_ might not be the best word. He is definitely limping. He would deny it to the others, but his ankle hurt like a _bitch_. And the whole white spots dancing in his vision thing didn’t help his balance. Darned concussion.

To be honest, he wasn’t tortured too much. These people were overly confident in how long they were going to be able to keep him. They thought they could break him slowly. Ha.

“Tony, keep us updated. Where are you now?” Steve cuts through his thoughts.

“I’ve reached some stairs. My knowledge on the schematics of this place stops here. I’ve only been on this level or the one below. The exit is definitely above, but once I’m up there I’m going to have to improvise.”

“Could you wait for us to get there? Do you see a place where you could hide? That would really be the best option.”

Steve had barely stopped talking when the alarm blares.

Tony sighs, “That’s not an option. As predicted, they know I’ve escaped now. Best plan is to keep moving forward, try and get out. You guys just get here when you can.”

“18 minutes,” Clint says tersely.

“Oh hey” Tony breathes, as he limps up the stairs, “where am I by the way? What should I expect once I’m outside?”

There’s a moment of silence.

“You – you don’t know?” Bruce asks.

Tony tenses.

“The bunker is a sort of island. You’re surrounded by ocean. You have to get to the roof, and that’s where we’ll pick you up. There’s no running away, Tony” Natasha says.

To be fair, she had deliberately softened her voice when delivering the news.

Tony sucks in a breath. Oh this was so not good. Really, really not good.

Ever since the wormhole, he’s been getting panic attacks about anything which had induced some sort of trauma. One of which being bodies of water. Because, well, being waterboarded in Afghanistan is apparently something he hadn’t managed to squish away into a dark corner of his brain forever.

“That explains the lack of security,” Tony says lightly. “They’re not that worried if I escape. There’s nowhere I can go. Even though I’m surprised these amateurs managed to get such a place.”

He’s searching around for the exit anyway. Even though he’s managed to avoid being found till now, and there didn’t seem to be too many guards, he knows his luck won’t last.

He has to get to the roof.

“15 minutes and we shall be there, do not worry old friend” Thor says sympathetically.

Suddenly, his eyes come upon a trap door. He looks around for a keypad and opens it up.

He makes quick work of it. Hacking into these things is so easy, he could do it with his eyes closed.

Which he actually might have done for a bit to be honest. He’s not sure. This stupid concussion might be having more of an effect than he thought.

This time, when the door opens, his tiny squeal of delight is heard by the entire team.

Normally, he can control himself a lot better, but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s losing the little brain-to-mouth filter he normally has.

“Uh, Tony? You good?” Steve inquires.

Tony looks up at the stairs that have unfolded from the open trap door.

“Trap door is open. I can climb up to the roof.”

Sadly, he’d only climbed up two rungs of the ladder when his vision goes even more spotty, and at the same time he leans too much weight on his injured ankle (probably broken if he’s being honest).

He finds himself back on the ground. Flat on his ass.

Apparently he’d made some sort of yelp or sound when falling because he hears exclamations of worry bursting through the comm.

Steve’s voice gets louder. “Tony? Report. Are you alright?”

Tony can’t help but giggle.

He’d managed to get out of a cave in Afghanistan, having built a metal suit – and yet here he was. Beaten by a ladder. Stupid, _stupid_ concussion.

“Tony? Tony!” Steve sounded worried.

“Relax guys. All’s good. This ladder is just not cooperating. Can’t seem to make it stay still.”

Tony gets up, more determined. If he had made some sort of sound falling, he’s sure the guards are going to find him in the next few seconds.

He takes a deep breath and focuses solely on the ladder. He starts climbing it very quickly. _He can do this_.

“Alright, Tony. Based on what we’ve just heard I assume you have a concussion. Can you tell how bad it is? Can you describe what – ” Natasha cuts off abruptly.

Tony can hazard a guess at why.

Two guards had just rounded the corner and upon seeing Tony, they started shooting at him.

Tony pretty much leaps up the last two steps and flings himself onto the roof. He rolls over and slams his hand onto the panel on the ground, making the trap door shut again.

At least those two guards are slowed down.

“Tony. Status.”

Despite his concussion, Tony does pick up on the underlying concern in Steve’s tone.

“Yeah, yeah. I know I have a concussion. It doesn’t seem too bad.” That was a blatant lie.

Tony knows he’s only managing to think straight because of his sole focus on escaping. He knows he’s fighting unconsciousness by this point.

It seems his lie is quite obvious to the others too, going by their silence.

“Alright Tony,” Bruce says placatingly “I’m sure it’s not too bad. How about the gun shots? They sounded quite close. Are you hurt?”

“Nope. I’m a ninja. Completely fine. I dodged all the bullets.” Tony barely finishes his sentence when he groans and collapses back to the ground as he’d been trying to get up.

He was falling on his ass too many times for his liking today.

There are a series of sharp and worried “Tony’s” blaring through his comm.

“Oh. Oops. Seems I was wrong. Not a ninja. My shoulder was shot. _Grazed_. It was grazed, not shot. Because I can’t see the bullet.”

“If I have understood Midgardians, you are not to see the bullet even if you are shot. The bullet may still be inside you, or have gone through you,” Thor says uneasily.

“Excellent observation, Pointbreak. But imma go with grazed. Better that way.”

He can’t help the groan he makes when he gets up, but manages not to scream.

His ankle is pulsing and his arm feels like it’s about to bust into flames. It’s definitely not just a graze.

He waits for his vision to come back and tries to blink away the white spots.

He chokes on a breath. Natasha wasn’t lying. He’s surrounded by ocean.

Quite a hostile ocean, to be honest. And he also notices the biting wind whipping salty droplets of water.

He turns, to find five trap doors starting to open. The stairs are definitely unfolding for who knows how many guards right now.

His time is up. These guards are going to flood this place in the next 30 seconds.

He lets out a sigh, resigned to his fate. “ETA?”

“We’re six minutes out. Almost there,” Steve says.

“Alright, turn on infrared vision.”

Tony walks up to the edge and looks down at the aggressive, grey waves. He has to hold on. 6 minutes.

That’s nothing. He can swim for 6 minutes.

With a broken ankle. And wrist. And shot shoulder. And concussion. And flashbacks of being held underwater – _stop_.

He can’t whirl down into this rabbit hole. He has to stay focussed.

“Infrared? Are you – ? No. Tony tell me you’re not.” Steve actually sounds panicked now.

“No choice. Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll become an icicle too. An iron man icicle. Ironicicle. Heh.”

He looks over his shoulder, and sees the guards start to stream out.

“Negative, Tony. Do _not_ jump into the ocean. _C’mon_ , we’re almost there.”

“I’m counting on it, Steve. I won’t hold out for long. Wow, this is a pretty steep jump. Might need someone to rate my diving skills. I could do a couple of flips. Anyways, I have no idea if the comm is waterproof or not. Just scan the waters and find me.”

And with that, Tony jumps.

He doesn’t have time to doubt himself, the guards had spotted him. And anyway, it would only make it worse if he allowed himself to panic.

He takes a deep breath just before his feet hit the water.

Wow.

He had not considered how deep he would plunge.

And the _cold_.

It punches into him brutally.

It’s the kind of cold that your body can’t comprehend, so it makes it feel like you’re burning instead.

He just stays there, suspended.

His lungs frozen.

And then his mind reboots and he turns around wildly, realising he doesn’t know which way is up.

Thankfully, in his panic, a few bubbles escape his lips. So he swims up, following their trajectory.

He ignores his limbs screaming in pain. He ignores his memories fluctuating to the surface that he’s _underwater_ and he can’t breathe. He can’t _breathe_.

His head resurfaces and for a terrifying second, his lungs won’t cooperate.

The tight hold on his lungs won’t let go, and he needs to breathe but he _can’t_. His mouth is gaping open, but his lungs are locked.

And then they expand. He takes a half broken gulp of air. And then another. And then he’s gasping, taking in as much oxygen as he can.

He’s okay. Well, he’s not okay – obviously. But he’s not being tortured. He’s just swimming. He’s swimming. He can do this.

His mind is somewhat clearer. Everything is tipping and sliding anyway because of the waves now, and he can’t tell the difference between the white spots in his vision and the specks of foam from the waves. Curse his concussion.

He’s remotely aware that his team has been shouting down the comm since he’d jumped.

Oh.

So the comm was waterproof.

Nice.

“Tony _please_ – ”

“ _C’mon_ Tony – ”

“Report. Tell us what – ”

“I’m good.” Is all he manages to choke out.

His teeth are chattering. He’s trembling all over. He has to concentrate on swimming.

Every movement is _agonising_. He’s having difficulty keeping his head above water, the waves tossing him around.

He keeps gulping water accidentally as he tries to breathe.

“Christ, Tony. You were underwater for too long. Are you okay?” Steve’s no longer trying to conceal his worry.

Before Tony has a chance to reply, a massive wave pulls him under.

He hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t seen it coming.

His flashbacks are tearing at him, reminding him of when he was pulled back under, into the water, being _held down_.

He thrashes around, and thankfully he kicks in the right direction, breaking the surface again.

He coughs up some water, and tries to stay afloat. Tries to keep an eye on the tumbling waves.

It might be the loathsome concussion, but to Tony it looks like the waves are enjoying this. Torturing him. Playing around as though he were nothing. Like a cat with a mouse.

“Tony, come in. Tony. TONY.”

“I’m here.” Tony hadn’t expected his voice to be so raw, but there we go.

He is half drowning to be fair.

“Oh _thank god_. That was – oh hell. Okay, you’re alright. Look, we’re three minutes out, you have to hold on. You can do this.”

Steve’s change in tone almost give Tony whiplash. It starts with such relief and panic but suddenly switches to the Captain America VoiceTM.

Rallying his troops.

But he’s not a troop. He’s just one person.

And he’s drowning.

His tone isn’t going to do much for the hypothermia Tony feels setting in. And frostbite.

Oh god. He’s so tired.

_C’mon_ Tony. Focus.

He realises that his trembling has slowed down. Not a good sign.

“I’ve stopped trembling.”

He doesn’t know why he says it.

That won’t make the quinjet go any faster. It won’t help his team find him.

But his thoughts are kind of jumbling around. Not making sense anymore.

“-ey. Hey! Tony!”

Oh.

They’d been trying to get his attention.

Wait.

He’s underwater again.

When had that happened?

When had he last taken a breath?

Maybe he could just let himself sink for a bit… his arms and legs feel numb. He can barely feel his hands and his feet…

_No. NO._

Tony crashes up to the surface again.

He thinks he might be throwing up some water. Ew.

His eyes haven’t opened in a while now.

There’s nothing to see anyway. He just has to concentrate on swimming.

“ _Please_ Tony. We’re 1 minute away. C’mon you can do this.”

Can he?

That voice sounded _so_ far away.

The waves keep chucking him under.

He’s barely breathing even when he’s not underwater.

The waves keep smacking his face.

Once again, he’s pulled under.

This time, he realises he doesn’t have the strength to kick himself back up.

Doesn’t even try to open his eyes. It’s dark anyway.

Maybe he should let himself pass out, before he starts feeling the need for air.

It would be more peaceful. He doesn’t want to feel the burning in his lungs again.

He’s completely numb now.

Doesn’t feel cold.

He distantly feels air escaping through his nose and mouse.

But he’s drifting away.

He lets the darkness take him.


	2. Chapter 2

***

Hands grabbing him.

***

Pain. _Pain._ His lungs.

***

Water leaving his body. Through his mouth. Throwing up.

***

“C’mon, Tony. Breathe. _Breathe goddamit_. You’re not going anywhere.”

***

His chest is on fire. Can feel it crackling and spitting flames. Burning him inside out.

***

Screaming. Someone screaming.

***

“Okay we restarted his heart. But it’s feeble. He might go into cardiac arrest again.”

***

Bright lights. Shouting.

***

Beep. Beep. Beep.

What the hell is that?

Incessant noise that – oh.

That’s a heart monitor.

Tony inhales deeply.

Correction – he tries to inhale deeply only to choke on something in his nose.

Now he’s coughing and gasping and oh _god_ he still can’t breathe.

This is never-ending.

Beep.beep.beep,beepbeepbeep –

That _noise_ is getting faster, what was it again?

Why could he hear that when he’s underwater?

Because he’s underwater. And he _can’t breathe_.

He’s thrashing but he can’t move. He feels his arms and legs being held tight. 

Oh god. _Oh godohgodohgodohgod –_

“Hey. Hey, Tony. It’s alright. You’re okay. Jesus, Tony. You’re alive. You’re in the medbay. It’s me, Steve. You’re safe, alright? You’re safe.”

The voice sounds anguished. But he recognises it. It calms him down slightly.

Slightly.

He’s still panicking. He’s still not breathing.

And then there’s something cool running through his veins.

And darkness takes a hold of him again.

***

Tony slowly comes round.

He smells the distinctive hospital smell. Oh how he _hates_ the smell of hospitals.

He can hear his heart monitor.

And he can feel that he’s not alone in his room.

Probably Pepper. Or Rhodey. Or Happy.

He grimaces.

He’s going to get another lecture on not being careful.

Actually, what had he done wrong this time?

He lazily pries his eyes open.

Then he blinks.

And binks again.

The entire _team_ was in his hospital room.

The avengers were chilling in his hospital room.

Why?

He makes eye contact with Natasha. Of course she would be the first to notice that he’s awake.

She actually looks relieved and even offers a small smile.

Wow. What the hell happened?

He offers a small smile back and turns his head, only to see Clint staring at him.

Damn super spies. He’d literally just opened his eyes.

Clint breaks out into a grin. Tony notices the tension around Clint’s eyes melting away when Tony smirks at him.

Thor seems to pick up on the spies’ slight movement, and sees Tony awake.

He also responds as subtly as he can.

Which is by cheering. Loudly.

“Tony! You are awake!”

This leads to Bruce startling from where he had been concentrating on a tablet, and Steve jumping awake in the chair next to Tony.

Tony hadn’t noticed how Steve had been sleeping with his head between his arms, leaning on Tony’s bed. It was oddly comforting.

Tony grins at Thor, he can’t help it. His joy is always so infectious.

Bruce is blinking rapidly behind his glasses, trying to get a hold of the situation, and then smiles warmly at Tony. “Good to have you back.”

“Thanks Bruciebear. Good to be back. Actually. Was about to ask. Back from where, exactly? Someone wanna give me a little synopsis on what went down?”

Steve is staring at him. Mouth slightly open.

Tony finds this oddly amusing, but also quite disconcerting. He knows he doesn’t have all his walls up right now, he can feel himself on the good stuff. He’s not ready to be scrutinised.

“Hiya. You good? Sleeping well? Still half way in dreamland? I know I am. Still feel like I’m covered in fluffy clouds.”

“Yeah, that’d be the amazing drugs you’re hooked on,” Clint chuckles.

Steve still doesn’t say a word.

Tony twists a little, trying to avoid Steve’s gaze. But the movement causes him to wince. Ow.

The drugs were not working 100% then. Better this way, he doesn’t like being completely out of it.

His little display of pain seems to be enough to snap Steve back into movement.

He clears his throat. “Are you alright, Tony? Do you want me to raise you into a sitting position a little more?”

“Oh, yup. That would be great actually, thanks.”

“What do you remember Tony?” Natasha asks gently, as Tony sits up.

Tony frowns. Racks his brains. He’s a genius. He’s got an amazing memory. It should come back to him.

“Um. Oh, I was kidnapped for a couple of days by some hooligans. But I managed to escape my cell, of course. I’m a genius. They really underestimated me. And then… oh I got into contact with you guys. I had a slight concussion though, right? This whole escaping event is kinda fuzzy. I escaped by – ”

His lungs constrict for a second. He’s hit by an overwhelming feeling of cold and needing to breathe. He doesn’t try and say anything else. They all know what happened anyway.

“By the way, we contacted Pepper as soon as possible and she’s currently flying back from Sydney. Happy is with her. They’re like one hour out by now. And we don’t think Rhodey knows what has happened yet. I think he’s finding out this afternoon though, once he’s finally back from his mission.” Tony is grateful for Clint tactically changing the subject.

It does soothe him. The thought of his family coming to stay and comfort him for a bit.

But he’s gradually realising, with every passing day, that this team is becoming his family too.

“Bruce, you wanna give me the run down with what happened to my beautiful body? How long do I have to be kept prisoner in this bed?”

He’s trying to make light of the situation, but Bruce is frowning slightly.

“You have a lot of injuries. Luckily, nothing too lasting. Don’t you dare do that again, Tony. You scared us all to death.”

The seriousness with which Bruce says this leaves Tony confused. Normally his science bro is the least hard on him, knowing that the others give enough lectures to last a lifetime. He knows Bruce worries, but it’s the first time he’s been so told off.

“You’ve been out for 3 days, Tony. You even went into a coma for half a day. You have a broken ankle. And a broken wrist. And three bruised ribs. And… you had a _severe_ concussion. We have no idea how you managed to do _anything_. You should have been unconscious. You were also shot, not _grazed_ , in your forearm. And you had slight hypothermia and frostbite. And… you went into cardiac arrest. Twice. It was touch and go there for a while.”

Tony’s sure one or two of the things Bruce said were meant to be a jab. Like the grazed thing. Maybe it had been something he’d said. But Bruce had petered off at the end. His voice actually sounded quite rough.

Now that he thinks about it, his entire team looks like they’d been put through a shredder or something. They all looked pale and had bags under their eyes. Shit. He doesn’t want it to be because of him.

Did they stay here for the 3 days he's been out? Ugh. He doesn’t want to feel guilty. Or pitiful.

“Uh. Alright. Well, all better now. Thanks for the save guys. My body would be rolling on the seabed right now without you.”

He winces when they all glare at him.

“Okay, too soon. But lighten up! Everyth – ”

“Lighten up?” Steve growls.

Ah. So Tony had manged to push Steve over the edge. He’d found what button to push. Completely by accident this time. He can’t really relish in it like he does when they fight and he manages to find an insecurity.

“Lighten _up_? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Language.” Tony can’t help himself.

“Is this all a joke to you? Do you find this funny? I can’t believe you. You haven’t taken anything of what has just been said seriously. Do you have _any_ idea what we went through when – ”

“Hey, okay – lay off alright? What am I supposed to do? Sigh and wail? Oh, woe is me! I crack jokes, it’s how I deal. You know that by now. And, yes I _do_ have an idea of what you went through. _Sorry_ that you all had to come save me. It was a big ordeal, it wasn’t fun and games, I realise that. I’m not that egotistical, despite what people say. I’m already planning on thanking you guys with a nice dinner and upgraded weapons and suits, alright? I _do_ appreciate that you had to waste your time on saving my sorry ass.”

There’s a stunned silence. Shit. These drugs really had lowered his barriers. First the concussion, now the drugs. It seems he can’t keep his thoughts to himself.

“That’s not what Steve meant, Tony” Natasha murmurs. Now she’s looking at him as though he’s a piece of jigsaw which she can’t fit. He hates when she tries to read him. Especially right now when he’s feeling so defenceless.

“What the hell man? How does your brain jump to that? You really think we found it _inconvenient_ to come save you?” Clint exclaims.

“I am truly sorry if that is the impression that we have given you. We would do anything to get a member of this team back. We were extremely worried for you.” Thor chips in, frowning.

“Yeah, as soon as we noticed that you were missing we didn’t stop looking. Thank god you manged to get that signal to JARVIS, that really helped narrow down our search.” Bruce is the only one looking at him understandingly. Which is worrisome in itself. It means he knows Tony better than he had thought.

Steve is looking at him as though he’d just stolen his shield to decapitate some kittens.

“Tony,” he says softly, “is that what you think? I can’t… I was saying what we went through as in the fear and worry for you. We looked for you for a week and when we found you, you were – ” Steve gulps. “You weren’t breathing, Tony. And then a few minutes later your heart stopped. We though you might…” Steve can’t seem to finish his sentence.

Tony curses himself internally. Why did his big fat tongue have to waggle out what he had been thinking? Now they all think he considers himself to be inferior to them. Which is true. But they shouldn’t know that. Or even suspect it.

“Right. Right.” Tony keeps fidgeting. He can’t stop himself. He can’t backtrack on what he said, or else he would make it look worse, like he was making an excuse (which of course he would be) and it would make him look even more pathetic.

“Okay, well you shouldn’t have worried. Well, maybe a little since I would have drowned – but” he carries on quickly “it’s all good now. I’m saved. I’m cured. Thanks to all of you. I owe you one, and – ”

“No. You’re missing the point. You don’t owe us. You would do this for us. You wouldn’t expect anything back. Same goes for us.” Natasha says simply.

Tony blinks. He hadn’t even realised he’d said that. It had come naturally, a turn of phrase. He couldn’t let this get out of hand.

“Hey, guys come on. Rewind. Let’s revert back to how we usually are after a mission or something. Where’s the usual telling off? This is normally where I get a whole load of lectures. I need my list of wrongdoings, where I fucked up.” He keeps his smirk plastered to his face, even when no one else laughs. What is wrong with them? They would all normally _laugh_ at this.

“Yeah, you’re right. We tell you off too much. We shouldn’t. You make good calls, and save our ass all the time. Hell, you’ve swooped in to save me from making a splat on the ground more than I can count.” Clint has a little frown growing, which Tony isn’t liking the look of.

“And for the record, you didn’t fuck up. You did nothing wrong. You were slightly reckless, but that’s kind of your style. And there wasn’t anything else you could have done. You got yourself to the roof Tony, you managed to escape that place all on your own.” Bruce looks like he’s really trying to get through to him. About what, Tony’s not so sure.

“Guys, I was joking. Because I always fuck up somehow. Yeesh, don’t take it so seriously.”

Apparently, Tony has lost his gift in diffusing a situation. He’s been a master at controlling situations since he was like six and now suddenly everything he says is only making everyone more tense. What happened? He blames it on the damned concussion. Yep. He’s lost his skill.

“Tony, that’s the problem. We didn’t realise it until now but often times we’re too harsh on you. It’s only a joke because it’s true, it’s what normally happens. It shouldn’t.” Natasha says calmly.

Tony nods. “Cool. Glad we got that out the way. I mean, who am I to argue in getting away with someting? Anyways, sorry for making you all so worried. But you should have known – I wasn’t about to die because of some untrained rookies. No way is the mighty Iron man going down like that.”

Finally, _finally_ he gets some chuckles. He lets himself relax. He suddenly feels the drowsiness he had been fighting seep in. He can’t help but yawn.

“I believe our brethren needs to sleep some more. Allow his body to heal. We are glad to see you back to yourself.”

Tony giggles a little at Thor’s turn of phrase. He sees Steve and Natasha look at him fondly out of the corner of his eye. Ah, well. He finds Thor funny. And he’s tired.

“Sleep well.” Natasha says warmly, and stands, following Thor.

“Yeah, we’re going to get our own beauty sleep now.” Clint smirks.

“You really should. You need it” Tony snarks. But the comment loses any fire as he says it through another yawn.

Clint just shakes his head, smiling.

“Pepper and Happy will probably be here by the time you wake up. And I know Rhodey will be making his way as quickly as possible.” Bruce assures him, and then he’s out the door too.

Tony’s blinks are getting slower. It seems his eyes are staying closed for longer each time.

Steve stops at the door, and turns back around.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It was just hard to see you joke about your own life like that. Especially after… We all care. A lot. You know that, right?” Steve says quietly.

Tony is barely awake by this point. He just smiles and says “Thank you.”

“For what?” Steve tilts his head slightly, which Tony finds adorable.

“I know it was you that got me out of the ocean. I can tell. It must have been hard. Not great memories, you know, cold water and all that.” Tony murmurs.

Steve stills.

“I don’t think there were good memories for you either,” he says gently. “Anyway, it wasn’t so bad for me. I didn’t have time to dwell in the past. I was occupied with looking for a pal of mine who’d decided to take a dive in frigid waters.” Steve smiles.

Tony lets out a breathy laugh, and realises his eyes are closed. He doesn’t seem to have the strength to open them. Not that he wants to.

He sighs contentedly and lets the fluffy clouds envelope him, sinking into the mattress.

“Glad we got you back, Ironicicle” he thinks he hears. But that was probably just his imagination.

Why the hell would he be Ironicicle? What a terrible name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Hope you liked it!


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